2012 Blog

The devil (Satan) is a fallen angel who is condemned to hell and on borrowed time. He is described in the Bible as a liar and the father of lies. When the devil lies, he is speaking his native language (John 8:44).

One of the greatest (biggest) lies the devil is ever going to have to spin is to explain away the Rapture. The Rapture is a time in the future when all God’s people will instantly and simultaneously, disappear from the earth (I’ll explain more about the Rapture in a moment). This Satanic deception will seek to turn people away from the Bible’s explanation of this event, and therefore, turn people away from God. This lie may well be the thing that sets the scene for a New World Order and a One World Government. More on that later.

First, let me give you a quick overview of what the Rapture is then I’ll share with you what I believe the devil may use to explain this away when it happens.

Let me state at the beginning that I do not believe the Rapture will happen on December 21, 2012 but I do believe that the idea behind one of the “end of the world 2012” doomsday predictions in particular, will contribute to making this lie “successful” to some. But what is the Rapture?

The word “rapture” is commonly used to describe a time which the Bible speaks of when true followers of Jesus Christ will be ‘snatched away’ from the earth to their new home in heaven… leaving others behind to face unprecedented terrors on earth as God pours out his final end time judgments on mankind.

It is important to understand that the word “rapture” is not a biblical word but comes from the Latin translation (rapere) of the Greek word ‘harpazo’. Harpazo is a biblical word. It means to be “caught up” or “taken away”. Harpazo is the word used in the following Bible passage...

"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be CAUGHT UP in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage each other with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

In a similar way, 2 Thessalonians 2:1 speaks of being “gathered unto him”.

Christians are to encourage each other that Christ will return for them. The Bible tells us that when Jesus returns from heaven, believers will be caught up (raptured) to be with him. Those who have already died will rise first, followed by those who are still alive at the time. From here, Christ will take them with him to the place he has been preparing for them (John 14:1-3).

Jesus made it very clear that while some would be taken, others would be left behind (Matthew 24:40-41). Those left behind would face a time of great tribulation, the likes of which has never been experienced before.

Earlier on in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus spoke of how sudden destruction would come in the same way it did in the days of Noah, when the world was destroyed by a flood that covered the whole earth. How did that happen? It happened like this... it was only when the door of the ark was shut and God’s people were safely inside, that God’s judgement was poured out on the earth. In the end times, the last days, the end of the world, Jesus himself will come and ‘rapture’ his people first, then he will let loose his final judgements on the earth.

What will this rapture be like? This snatching away of his people will happen very quickly and suddenly as in the twinkling of an eye.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52…

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Do you know how fast a twinkling will be?

A blink of the eye lasts somewhere between 300 and 400 milliseconds. You think that’s fast? Well, a twinkling of the eye (when a reflected particle of light is seen in the eye) is an event that happens at the speed of light - 983,571,056 feet per second! That’s about a billionth of a second!! However, as fast as the speed of light is, it’s actually an enormous period of time compared to the actual time in which a twinkle occurs. It will be helpful if we look at the phrase that comes before the words, “In the twinkling of an eye”.

The Bible says “In a moment” - (ἐν ἀτόμῳ en atomō;). This means, in an “atom” of time. An atom of time is a period of time which cannot be cut or divided to make any smaller! In other words, instantly. So, one ‘moment’, one atom of time, Christians believers will be here on earth going about their daily routines, the next moment, they will be gone!

Believers will not only be instantly raptured, they will be instantly changed. At the ‘moment’ of the Rapture, believers will be given immortal bodies (we all have immortal souls). But it doesn’t stop there. These new spiritual bodies will never experience sickness, grief, pain, suffering, evil or death – forever (Revelation 21:4). Those who are cast into hell at the final great white throne judgement will also have immortal bodies but rather than being forever freed from pain and suffering, they will be tormented body, mind and soul – forever (Luke 16:24, Revelation 20:10-15)

So the devil has a problem. How is he going to explain the rapture?

How will he explain millions of people all over the earth suddenly disappearing, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”? Well, there is a clear explanation in the Bible of a supernatural God who created the world and who will return for those who put their faith in him. God has already prepared the answer in his Word, the Bible, and people will be able to read this and believe.

Since Satan does not want people believing this end of the world Bible prophecy about the rapture of God’s people, he is going to have to come up with a different explanation. He most certainly does not want people believing that millions of people disappeared because Jesus had returned for all who had repented and put their faith in him and his death as payment for their sin. This would lead to more people putting their faith in Jesus to save them.

The devil’s mission is to stop the spread of the Bible’s message about salvation through repentance and faith Jesus Christ because he knows that when this message of the Bible has been spread throughout all the earth, then the end will come – his end! (Matthew 24:14 and 25:41).

So what will his lie be? What will be this great end time deception? To find out what I believe, you will need to read the next blog entry when it arrives a week from today (today is Sunday 29 April, 2012). I was going to put the answer in this post but thought the post would be too long. So I'll see you in a weeks time.